I'd been thinking about a nipple piercing for a fair while without actually doing anything about it. Before I went ahead and took the plunge with it I only had one piercing; a Prince Albert (I've already submitted an account of getting that somewhere on here). As I've said before any obvious piercing above the neck would be heavily frowned on at work and I didn't really fancy any more genital piercing at present (you can have too much of a good thing!), leaving the main two options either a nipple or navel. A number of friends find the idea of body piercing in general a bit weird and repellent but I've always thought that pierced nipples look good. I also felt that for a bloke to have a navel piercing he should have a six-pack for it to look good, thus ruling it out for me for the foreseeable future at least.
At A Glance Author DodgySheep Contact DodgySheep@bme.anon IAM DodgySheep When Two years ago Artist Ellie Studio Cold Steel Location Camden, North London, UK I decided to get my left nipple pierced; I don't really know why. Hopefully you'll know what I mean when I say that it just felt like the obvious and right choice. I've heard people say before that a right nipple piercing on guys is 'gay' but that's never something that's occurred to me and didn't feature in my decision.
There was never any question about where I'd go to get it done as I'd previously been so impressed with my experience at Cold Steel in Camden. They also have a good reputation for hygiene and have an APP membership. It took me a while to find time to go and get it done as I'm a complete wuss; some people love the piercing experience whereas for me it's just a means to an end and something that's easy to find an excuse to delay. I graduated in July 2005 so had a very brief summer holiday before starting work in the August and decided to get it then.
I hate phoning up to book a piercing as it makes me feel pressured and past the point of no return. Instead I headed over to Camden early one afternoon during the week and headed straight over to Cold Steel. I was lucky enough that Ellie was in the reception area and she recognised me. Normally at Cold Steel they like you to turn up an hour before-hand and leave a deposit but this time, as had happened previously, it was a quiet midweek afternoon and she said that she could fit me in straight away. If I remember rightly the price was £30, but as a former customer I had their 10% discount card. They do not accept cards and have to be paid in cash. As is their standard protocol I had to sign a declaration to say that I was over 18 and that I had not taken alcohol or drugs in the previous 24 hours. She also gave me an aftercare leaflet prior to the piercing and checked that I had eaten before arriving at the shop. She explained that they pierced nipples with titanium straight barbells (1.6mm I think) for ease of healing.
After paying and signing the forms I was taken into one of their piercing rooms. These are small and clean and have medical examination couches, sharps bins and lots of medical gloves. Ellie asked me to take my top off and make myself comfortable, sitting up on the couch. She used a marker to put a small horizontal grid on my left nipple and explained that, as with most men, because of it's small size she would actually pierce more deeply and just behind the nipple. She then got me to check her markings in the mirror to make sure I was happy – on a high of nerves I barely looked but said it was fine. Fortunately it did turn out to be. As with my PA she was chatty and friendly and put me more at ease.
When it came to the piercing she used autoclaved jewellery and cleaned the area beforehand. She changed her gloves several times during the procedure. Quick ranting interlude – piercers don't use sterile gloves and there would be no real point to them in this kind of procedure. They use single-use clean disposable gloves in the same way that a doctor would which is perfectly acceptable. I've heard too many people make a fuss about this...
For the piercing Elli put the back of the couch up and had me sit up against it. She placed a clamp on the nipple, which wasn't particularly uncomfortable. By this time I was pretty anxious and psyched up, and staring away from any needle. She told me to take a deep breath in and then pierced on the exhale. Although it happened very quickly it felt like much longer; it almost felt like I could feel it going through different layers of tissue. It just started to feel a little uncomfortable when I felt a bit of a tug and it was through. It was definitely less painful than I expected though a little uncomfortable when she pulled the bar through.
After this Ellie reiterated the need to keep the piercing clean, not fiddle with it and wait for a while before changing the jewellery. I asked if I would get any cleaning solution and she offered me a bottle of Provon. I thought that was pretty generous though am not convinced she would have offered it if I hadn't asked – she did say it was because I was an existing customer. Rather flatteringly she told me that I looked like I did weights and should stay away from bench-pressing for a while. I thanked her and left; I don't think tipping is done here the way it is in the States.
Healing was pretty good. I had a little bit of blood crusting for the first day but only minimal. For the first couple of weeks I did daily salt water soaks and washes with the Provon when I showered (be careful, if you catch it with an arm it hurts like a bastard). After that I continued with the Provon in my daily showers until it ran out (about a month later), but gradually cut down the number of salt soaks. I had occasional slight yellow crustiness while it was healing but nothing major, and waited for my showers to remove it.
The healing process went well for the first month and then I went on holiday to Egypt. Everything seemed pretty settled and I have to admit that I wasn't keen to be seen with any sort of dressing over it so I took no special precautions other than cleaning it in the shower. I was doing a lot of swimming; in the hotel pool and in the sea (which I hoped would be an equivalent to salt water soaks – if it's clean enough for fish it's clean enough for me). About three days in I got a bit of pussy discharge from it, and when cleaning it in the shower that afternoon got a reasonable amount more – not a rush, but more than I'd had for weeks. A bit disgusting maybe, but you're reading this for the full story. I cleaned it and had no further discharge over the holiday.
Since then I've had no problems with it at all. I mostly wear the barbell but have also tried a ring, which I find less aesthetically pleasing. Sensation-wise it doesn't make any difference but I wasn't expecting any. All in all it's been easy with no real problems or special treatment needs I feel that it was fully healed within three or four months. I'd recommend it to anyone. My girlfriend has since got one of her own and again has had no problems – and looks good with it!